


Contusions

by thebeatofmyowndrum



Category: Stitches - Samantha Simard
Genre: Cold War Era Mentality, Gen, Physical Assault aftermath, Post Scar Tissue, Red Dynasty is really pissed at Anton, Sullivan Family Ensemble, female character assaulted off screen, i have accidentally deleted and retyped all of these tags FOUR TIMES
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24617407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebeatofmyowndrum/pseuds/thebeatofmyowndrum
Summary: Contusion [kon'too'zhun] injury to tissue with skin discoloration without breakage of skin; a bruise.Anton Cordeanu thought he could cut out the middleman in the Rapture manufacturing and distribution processes without repercussion.There are repercussion, just not against anyone he concerns himself with.Caitlin Murphy is caught in the cross hairs of the gang war Anton sets off. Once again the Sullivan family is smack dab in the middle of one of Jim Wolfe's messes, but with less chaos than Caitlin and Ryan's wedding reception. Hopefully.
Relationships: Caitlin Sullivan/Ryan Murphy, Jim Wolfe/Sebastian Cordeanu
Kudos: 1





	Contusions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BlackVultures](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackVultures/gifts).



> I haven't written anything I was comfortable posting on ao3 in a hot minute. I've graduated with a bachelor's, gotten an adult job that doesn't at all feel at all like work, grown as a person, and rediscovered that writing is a fantastic escape while the world crashes and burns around me. Except for summaries. I still can't write summaries. 
> 
> No Beta because I've literally been working on this for like three years so any mistakes that I've missed in that time period will survive to ride another day.
> 
> Oh, also very briefly, Chief Sullivan is very upset and calls a Romanian character a Russian Commie in the heat of the moment in a heightened emotional state, hence the Cold War Mentality tag. 
> 
> This was supposed to be a one shot. God help me the plot ran away from me.

“DADDY!” Caitlin flung herself out of the ambulance and straight into her father’s arms sobbing hysterically as he pulled her into a hug. Chief Sullivan crying just as hard, pulled his only daughter and her shock blanket into the tightest hug of her life. Maureen followed half a step behind her husband with Christopher and Kevin on her heels. Frankie came sprinting behind his brothers, in full uniform and a BPD Cruiser parked haphazardly across the neighbor’s front yard, sirens and lights still blaring.

Caitlin sobbed into her father’s chest, getting tears and snot all over his uniform jacket and commendation ribbons. Her glasses lay in pieces on the stretcher in the ambulance, her nose and cheeks cut up from the destroyed plastic frames and shattered plastic lenses. She clung to her father and was incoherent. She wanted to say she didn’t know how she was attacked, the lights had been out on her side of the house, Kevin at work, Chewie was still at Doggie Day Care and Ryan was still in Miami attending the Food Network Festival on South Beach. She’d walked into her home after her twelve-hour shift at Mass General, feet aching, back sore and completely wiped, it had been a long shift and they’d lost one of her favorite patients in the ward to complications from the flu. So when her attacker stepped out from behind the living room door Caitlin hadn’t noticed because she was pawing through her pile of mail that had accumulated on the hall table.

“Baby Girl, are you alright?” the Chief choked out through tears of his own as he smoothed her hair back down tenderly.

Caitlin shook her head and cried harder, squeezing her father tighter between shaking sobs.

Kevin hugged their mother, and wished he could slide in with Cait and their father. He needed to comfort his twin, but understood that at this moment she wanted her Daddy and no one else. Christopher stood on the other side of their mother, awkwardly wrapping one arm around her and Kevin, an uneasy look of confusion and grief flickering over his face. Frankie stood off to the side, a thunderous and murderous look on his face. His gaze flickered between his only sister sobbing into the medals and commendation ribbons that adorned their father’s uniform jacket and the suspect handcuffed to his stretcher in the back of the second ambulance.

“Did you shoot him?” Frankie asked hopefully watching the EMTs trying to keep their patient stable.

“Twice in the kneecaps,” Caitlin rasped out, bruises were already forming a puce colored ring around her throat in the shape of the perpetrator’s meaty hands. “I swung by Jimmy’s on the way home to get the Berretta back, I didn’t feel s-safe without it. Not, not after what’s been going on with the gangs in town. He said I m-might, might have a target on my back.”

“Well he wasn’t wrong,” Frankie muttered. Before he could stalk off and do something like dig his thumbs into the suspect’s entry wounds, the medics deemed the patient stable enough to transport. An Arlington Sergeant climbed into the rig with the EMTs from Armstrong Ambulance and they were off with a double cruiser escort to Winchester Hospital.

“Which hospital are you taking her to?” Mrs. Sullivan asked fretfully as the EMTs turned to Caitlin again.

“Winchester, ma’am,” the male EMT replied. “It’ll be easier for the officers to get her statement.”

“I want Kevin to ride with me,” Caitlin demanded quickly as she was being guided back to her stretcher.

Kevin gave Maureen one last squeeze and slid into the back to hold her hand.

“Franklin,” Maureen said turning to her youngest child, “I believe we could use an escort to the hospital.”

“With the works, Son,” the Chief said clamping a hand down on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “If your Captain has any complaints, tell him to call me about it.”

“Yes, Sir,” Frankie said and jogged back to his cruiser.

“Who’s going to call Ryan?” Christopher asked looking between his parents uncertainly.

“I’ll call him once we get to the hospital,” Mrs. Sullivan replied with a worried glance over at the officers that were taking photographs of Caitlin and Kevin’s destroyed foyer space. She shuddered as the Beretta was picked up and bagged by the State Police Crime Scene tech.

* * *

It took several hours before any of the Sullivans were able to make contact with Ryan in Miami. Caitlin’s phone had been destroyed in the attack; the assailant had crushed her smartphone when he’d slammed Caitlin to the ground as he’d tried to remove the handgun from her grip. Mrs. Sullivan had left her phone on the kitchen counter, Kevin had left his entire bag at work, Christopher didn’t have Ryan’s number saved to his phone, and Frankie didn’t know it either, his personal phone was back in his precinct locker. But he did have his phone to look up the number to the diner in Southie to get his phone number. Frankie had to call five times before one of the waitresses had two minutes to grab Ryan’s number from the office for them.

Frankie dialed the number and it went straight to voicemail. Figured. “Ryan, it’s Frankie. Cait’s in the hospital, she’s gonna be fine. Some hired thug broke into your place and jumped her. She’s gonna have some nasty bruising around her neck and some cuts from her broken glasses, but she’s good. They’re gonna release her to Mom and Pops in a bit after the officers get her statement. Her phone’s toast and evidence, so call her here on my phone as soon as you get this.”

Frankie was halfway back to the huddle of Sullivans in the waiting room when Jim Wolfe and Sebastian Codreanu flew into the room. Wolfe was pale, his face set in a permanent panic and his eyes danced over heads in the waiting room trying to count how many members of the family were present and if the doctor was out to talk to them yet.

Frankie saw Pops glaring at Codreanu, and using his astute Police Deduction Skills, knew there was about to be a very public blow up in the waiting room unless he hustled all concerned parties out into the parking lot and left his service weapon in the extremely capable hands of his mother.

“Wolfe!” Frankie called out quickly before Pops could unfold himself from the crappy pleather chair along the far wall of windows. “Take Codreanu back outside. We can talk in the parking lot,” he jerked his head over towards his father’s murderous face indicating the volume for the conversation was going to dramatically increase shortly.

Bash caught on quickly, “Outside is good, it’s actually great. Constantin loves it when I talk to cops outside. Wolfe, let’s go.”

Wolfe looked bewildered but then he saw how pissed the Chief was. Having known Chief Sullivan since he was nine years old, Wolfe had more than twenty-six years to acquaint himself with his ex-girlfriend’s father’s various angry faces. The face the Chief was currently making was the Queen Mother of all Angry Faces. And he was currently carrying his service weapon.

“You know, outside sounds fantastic,” Wolfe announced backing up towards the doors leading to the main entrance. “We’ll meet you out there.”

“Pops, before you blow your lid please remember you’re in uniform and a blow up in the middle of the waiting room is going to be an ugly spot on your record before you announce your retirement,” Frankie said throwing his arm up to stop his father from chasing the two men out the door.

“I don’t give a flying rat’s ass about my fucking record right now Frankie,” Chief Sullivan spat out. “That fucking Russian bastard has something to do with your sister’s situation and Jimmy Wolfe has to have some balls to bring him here now.”

“Leave your gun with Mom,” Frankie ordered. “I’m leaving mine here with Kevin.”

Kevin’s head snapped up at the mention of his name, eyes darting between younger brother and father like a spectator at a tennis match. “Yeah, I’ll hold it, no problem, Frankie.”

Frankie unbuckled his belt and slid it off far enough to remove his holster and handed it, along with his ankle holster and back up gun, to his older brother. He crossed his arms over his chest in challenge to his father once his belt was back in place.

The Chief narrowed his eyes at his youngest son before sliding his own holster off of his belt and handed it to his wife. He jammed his cover onto his head and gestured to the door for Frankie to proceed first. “If you’re so damned worried about the potential scene I could cause, Franklin, why don’t you go outside first so I don’t stab the gang-banger.”

“He’s Romanian by the way,” Frankie said as he made the sharp left out of the ER to the exit. Pops glared at him looking for an explanation. “Just in case you wanted to insult his national heritage or his mother to his face. Sebastian Cordeanu is Romanian, son of the Romanian Crime Lord Anton Cordeanu, who by the way was Christopher’s top donor until Caitlin’s wedding reception blew up,” Frankie led the way out into the covered walkway that led to the parking garage stairs and the top level of the parking structure. Wolfe and Sebastian stood off to the side behind the jersey barriers that blocked off the area of renovation from open parking. In the afternoon sunlight both men somehow looked paler than they had under the industrial lighting inside the hospital. Constantin was nowhere to be seen which led Frankie to believe this was an unplanned Saturday outing with Wolfe. 

“You’ve got some balls the size of fucking cannon balls Jimmy Boy,” the Chief spat out stalking right up into Wolfe’s personal space. “After everything that’s fucking gone on you get a target painted on my little girl like the two of you were still together.” He crowded up into Wolfe’s space forcing the younger man to take a few steps back, but the Chief advanced further into his space. “And they you have the bright idea to bring this fucking Commie to see my baby girl when it’s his family that’s got her in the fucking emergency room in the first place.”

“In Wolfe’s defense Chief Sullivan,” Sebastian started but stopped when the cold stare of fury was directed at him. “He wasn’t planning on taking me with him, but I was already in his car when he got the message from Jake.”

“Would you be able to tell if this guy was one of your father’s goons?” Frankie asked quickly before the Chief could respond.

“Most likely,” Sebastian replied looking between the Sullivan men. “Do you have a _fotografie_?”

Frankie pulled up the picture on his cell phone one of the Arlington officers had sent him to run past a few of the CIs the BPD worked with.

Sebastian shook his head taking a look at the face of Caitlin’s attacker. “He’s not one of ours, I’ve never seen him before. I think he runs with what’s left of the Winter Hill Gang. I think he’s a witness intimidator, likes to rough people up real good, Constantin knows more about these men than I do.”

Wolfe leaned in to look at the phone screen and shook his head in disagreement. “He’s not one of the Winter Hill boys. Uncle Bobby knows better than to send an enforcer after Cait, especially after what happened with Christopher at Stela.”

“He could be one of Danh Sang’s men,” Sebastian mused taking a second look at Frankie’s phone. “Perhaps Constantin would know better than I.”

“Then you’d better call up your muscle head body guard and find out what the hell he knows,” the Chief growled out. “I need to check in with the station. If either one of these two dunderheads tries to leave, Frankie, stab them.”

“You got it Pops,” Frankie replied watching his father storm off back towards the hospital entrance.

“You know you got off easy,” Frankie said looking over at Wolfe and Bash. “He had the Queen Mother face on and nobody has any broken bones or fell through the plywood patches behind you.”

Sebastian eyed the boards covering the holes with distain in his eyes and noted how close Wolfe had come to being forced onto one of the patches before he responded to Constantin in Romanian on his own cell phone.

“Frankie,” Wolfe said after taking a deep breath, “please tell me you aren’t actually going to stab one us today. I have it on good authority it will make your sister cry.”

* * *

Kevin waited for his younger brother to come back into the Emergency Room lobby before he headed back to the exam room at Caitlin’s request via nurse. He had come out to let his family know how the exam was progressing but had remained when things became tense.

“Have you heard from Ryan yet?” Caitlin asked after Kevin finished the story of the temporarily aborted double homicide of Jim Wolfe and Sebastian Cordeanu. “He’s going to lose it when he hears about this.” Her hands hovered over her stomach briefly before going back to fretting at the blanket edge.

“No, Frankie left him a voicemail but we haven’t heard anything yet,” Kevin replied as he repositioned himself at the foot of the bed. “He did say that he was planning on spending the entire day in presentations and cooking demos.”

“How bad is the house?” Caitlin rasped out, her dark hair framing her head like a dark halo against the white pillow. She had angled the bed so she was sitting straight up and faced her brother and the lightbox displaying the results of her neck x-rays. Thankfully nothing was crushed or torn, just extremely bruised.

“Kind of bad?” Kevin hedged with a shrug. “The front hall is trashed, bullet holes, broken furniture, bills everywhere. I don’t think we’re getting our security deposit back when we move out.”

Caitlin tried to laugh but cut it off quickly when it became too much for her throat.

“I’ve never been more thankful that you take Chewie to doggie day care on your way to work,” Cait whispered. “I don’t know what I’d do if that fucker had hurt my baby, well my fur baby.” Her hands returned to her stomach, a look of understanding dawning on her twin’s face.

“Chewie is going to be fine, Cait,” Kevin said and squeezed one of her feet. As soon as you get out of here, I’ll go pick him up and he’ll probably sleep on top of you for the next month because he’ll be convinced that he’s a fearless guard dog and not a walking carpet.” He paused for a moment and looked her in the eyes. “Do Mom and Dad know about your hitchhiker yet?”

“How bad do I look, Kev?” Caitlin asked weakly instead of answering Kevin’s question. She reached up to ghost a hand over her face, not quite touching the cuts that littered her cheeks.

“Well, you look better than Freddy Kruger if that makes you feel better,” Kevin offered. “The vase you bought at the MFA is smashed I take it?”

Caitlin nodded, almost fading into herself as flashes of her struggle came back. “It’s in pieces, the mail table, key dish, all of it’s in pieces on the floor.”

Kevin nodded and sighed, “I’m not totally sure what to say right now, Cait, I’m just happy you’re alive. I think we need to have a twin day soon to celebrate that. But you need to tell Mom and Dad about the nugget.”

“That sounds nice,” Caitlin replied barely above a whisper. “I’ll tell them after the doctor tells me we’re in the clear. Are Jimmy and Bash still here?”

“I think so, Frankie had to put himself between them and Pops to keep the peace,” Kevin offered. “Do you want me to get them?”

“Please,” Cait whispered, pulling at the blanket that was draped over her lap.

Kevin was able to finagle Wolfe and Bash in through the ER doors by asking politely and a well timed stare down with his father.

Kevin stayed out in the waiting room with the rest of his family while Caitlin spoke with the two men, nobody wanted to try the patience of the nursing staff and be thrown out before Caitlin was to be released.

Wolfe and Bash walked into her little exam room and Caitlin’s bravado crumbled like an ant hill in a flood. She began to sob again, and reached for Wolfe before she even realized what she was doing.

Without missing a beat, Wolfe was on the bed next to her, holding her and letting her cry all over him. “There’s my girl,” Wolfe whispered and hugged her tightly. “It’s okay, he’s not going to hurt you again, I promise.”

“He was shouting at me in Spanish,” she sobbed into his chest. “I could understand half of what he was saying and he was going to try to kill me. He wanted to make it look like it was the Mass Art killer who did it. Said it was revenge for Danh Sang.”

“Jesus Fuck,” Wolfe swore looking at Bash for help. Sebastian was no help however. Being the only child of a well-connected crime lord, Sebastian had very little experience with crying women who weren’t whisked away the minute the tears started flowing. “Get over here,” he hissed at his sort of boyfriend. “Catie, have you given your statement to the Arlington guys yet?”

She shook her head and cried harder.

Wolfe kissed the top of her head while he gently rubbed circles on her back through the hospital gown. “I need to go speak with the officers out in the hall okay?”

Cait sniffled and clung a little tighter before letting him go. Sebastian was unceremoniously pushed into Wolfe’s vacated spot and soon found himself with a lapful of sobbing woman. His hands hovered nervously over her head and upper back. He shot a panicked look at Wolfe who briefly lingered in the doorway. ‘Help me’ he mouthed to Wolfe’s delight. Wolfe, the bastard grinned and disappeared down the hall to speak to a uniformed officer.

Sebastian was at a loss, but gently placed one hand at the nape of Caitlin’s neck, and the other around her shoulders, mimicking the hug that Wolfe had ensconced her in. “There, there,” he said tentatively, completely unsure how to speak to the sobbing woman who was ruining his silk shirt.

“You don’t comfort many crying women, do you?” Caitlin asked after a few minutes of Sebastian stumbling over the words to a nursery song in Romanian while trying to comfort her.

“How did you make that conclusion?” Sebastian asked jokingly. “I’m not good with people crying period. To make it worse, it’s you crying and I’ve seen you fight everybody in your ward to keep yourself on Jake’s care team and here you are sobbing your eyes out like a small child.”

“It’s a fairly normal reaction to fighting for your life,” Caitlin explained and winced when she saw the stain she’d left on his shirt. “I seem to remember you having a break down or two not too long ago, Bash.”

“Yeah but it’s you,” Sebastian said in explanation. “You’re one of the strongest people I know and it’s freaking me out that you’re freaking out. I know that people aren’t all emotional walls like Constantin can be, but seeing somebody as strong as you are breakdown is putting me a little out of sorts.”

Caitlin smiled at him and lightly bumped their shoulders. “You think I’m emotionally stable and strong? Me, the girl that sobbed her way through the last four Harry Potter films and cries every time Obi-wan Kenobi walks away from Anakin’s lava engulfed body in the third Star Wars film?”

“No way,” Sebastian protested, “You do not cry at movies, I won’t believe it.”

“Ask Jimmy what movies he banned us from seeing in high school because I’d start crying through them,” Cait rasped out with a small giggle. “The biggest offender was _The Lion King_ closely followed by _Lassie_.”

“You cry over kids’ movies and you’re a nurse? How the hell does that work Sullivan?” Sebastian asked incredulously. “I don’t buy it.”

“I’m just an emotional person, Sebastian,” Caitlin sniffed. “Don’t judge me or I’ll sic my Daddy on you.”

“He is a terrifying man and I never want to see that look on his face again as long as I live,” Sebastian said quickly. “He’s under the impression it’s my fault that this happened because of what my father is involved in.”

“I saved your life and your father is indebted to me for that, whether he knows it or not, why would he try to kill me?” Caitlin asked. “It makes no sense, and what face was Daddy wearing?”

“Frankie described it as the ‘Queen Mother’ angry look, and it was terrifying. If Constantin had been here, I think he would have shoved me to the side so he could get stabbed first.” Bash played up his shudder, but in all honestly he understood how people could be intimidated by the usually easy going man.

Caitlin rolled her eyes and pulled Bash down onto the bed next to her so she could position him in the perfect cuddle position. “I’ll talk to him later and make him apologize.”

“Not necessary,” Sebastian replied quickly. “I don’t need to be anywhere near the Chief until this is completely sorted out.”

Someone knocked on the door to the exam room, and Sebastian scrambled off of the gurney and pulled the top layer of heated blankets to the ground with him. Caitlin started to laugh but it quickly turned into a cough. Wolfe poked his head into the room and laughed at Sebastian on the floor.

“Constantin will probably kill me if you get admitted to the hospital, Bash,” he announced while he held the door open for the detectives from the State Police and Arlington PD.

Caitlin spent what felt like two hours detailing as much of her ordeal as she could remember. She clung to Wolfe’s hand, on and off through her story, her hand unconsciously touching her barely visible baby bump. She stuttered each time she explained how she had the Beretta in her tote bag.

“Jimmy gave it to me years ago, just to keep in the house as a just in case thing. I gave it back to him during the Mass Art case and I just got it back today. It’s usually in the draw in my nightstand upstairs. He grabbed at me and was muttering in Spanish the entire time, I minored in Spanish so I understood what he was saying.” She took a deep breath and squeezed Jim’s hand tightly enough that he winced lightly.

The more senior detective from the State Police nodded, and handed her a pad of legal paper with a sympathetic smile on his face. “We just need you to write your statement down Ms. Sullivan.

“Murphy,” Caitlin corrected quickly with a dopey smile on her face. “I haven’t had a second to change my last name since the wedding.”

“Congratulations Mrs. Murphy,” the detective replied correcting himself. “I’m going to step out and speak with your doctor, but my counterpart, Detective Rollins from the Arlington Police Department is going to stay here while you and your husband fill out your statement.”

“Oh I’m not Ryan,” Wolfe said quickly. “Just Cait’s best friend. He’s out of town for a work commitment. We’re still trying to get in touch with him.”

“Well in that case we’ve got everything well in hand,” Detective Rollins said with a grin on her face. “We’ll let Jesse go speak with your doctor and get the ball rolling on our part.

Caitlin reached for the black gel pen the older woman held out, noting it was her preferred brand of pen, and began to write down everything she had relayed verbally to the police.

“Good news Mrs. Murphy,” Caitlin looked up from her fifth page of statement writing to the ER doctor entering her room with a stack of paperwork. “The fetal heart monitor has shown no signs of distress, and all your other vitals are looking good.”

Caitlin sagged, dropping the pen as she burst into tears. The sudden burst of emotion startled Wolfe into motion, hovering at her shoulder, pulling her hair back and kissing the crown of Caitlin’s head.

“I was so scared,” she cried, grabbing at Wolfe’s hands. “I’m 13 weeks pregnant and we haven’t told our parents,” she sobbed, gasping for breath. “I was so scared I was going to lose my baby before I could tell my parents about them!”

“That’s a normal reaction for any woman in your situation,” the doctor continued as Cait pulled herself together. “We’re sending all of our test results, and the FHR data to your OBG/YNs office in Medford. They’ll be calling you first thing tomorrow for an appointment to see how Mom and Baby are doing once the adrenaline has had time to wear off. That being said, I know there is a group of people chomping at the bit to see you and take you home. I don’t want you driving yourself to that appointment tomorrow. Is there someone in that group out there that can drive you?”

Caitlin nodded, “One of my brothers or my mother can drive me. I don’t know if anyone has gotten in contact with my husband yet. He’s out of state for a convention.”

“Out of the five members of your family in the waiting room, not one of them has Ryan’s phone number?” Wolfe asked incredulously.

“My phone was destroyed, Frankie’s phone is in his locker, Kevin left his entire bag at work when Dad called the library to say he was out front and there had been a break in at our place. Mom said she and Daddy were having lunch at home with Christopher and they left their phones in the kitchen. Christopher’s phone died on the way here,” Caitlin explained. “Frankie called the diner from his work phone, got Ry’s cell number, and called him a couple of times I think.”

“I could have called him after Jake called me,” Jim grumbled and took his phone out of his back pocket. “I know it’s a Saturday afternoon, but somebody should have mentioned it. You fill out your paperwork and talk to the doc about what you need to do to get out of here while I track down your other half.”

On the fourth call Ryan finally picked up his phone. “Wolfe what the hell is going on?” he asked once the call connected. “Frankie said someone attacked Cait at home?”

“She’s going to be okay,” Wolfe replied immediately. “She’s got a few deep tissue contusions around her neck, some small abrasions to the face where her glasses broke in the scuffle. Doc said the baby is doing okay, she’s going to have to go to they gyno tomorrow for a follow up fetal heart rate test.”

“What about the guy who did this?” Ryan asked, Wolfe could hear things banging in the background. “I’m packing now and trying to get on the next flight back to Boston. Did her get caught?”

“Ryan, you would be so fucking proud of her,” Jim said with a laugh. “She shot the fucker twice in the knee caps and bashed him over the head with that vase on the hall table. Last I heard from the Staties in the hallway, he was still in surgery. The DA is going to arraign him in the hospital once the perp is conscious, and he’s going to be sent to lock up with no bail.”

“I’m not complaining, but why no bail,” Ryan asked, over the sound of his suitcase zipper being closed.

“He attacked a gubernatorial candidate’s pregnant sister in her own home,” Wolfe replied tensely. “The Attorney General’s office and the DA’s office both agreed that bail would be set high or not at all. There’s still time for bail to be set. That is if our perp survives surgery.”

“He’d better,” Ryan muttered darkly. “I want to know why the fuck he was there in the first place.”

“Get home first and then I’ll fill you in,” Wolfe replied, focused on the linoleum hallway floor. There was a chip in the corner of the tile directly in front of him that seemed fascinating the longer the call lasted.

“Fuck,” Ryan sighed. “I’m going to check out, grab an Uber and beg somebody at the American Airlines desk to put me on a flight today. I’ll text you when I have more details.”

“You got it,” Jim replied.

“Oh, and Wolfe,” Ryan added as an afterthought. “Do me a favor?”

“Sure, what do you need?”

“Don’t let her out of your sight until I get home. Please.” Ryan pleaded. “The only thing that’s keeping me from completely losing it in the middle of this Marriott is knowing that she’s got you, Kevin and Frankie in her corner keeping an eye on things.”

“Ryan, it would be my genuine pleasure,” Wolfe replied. “See you when you get to Putnam Street tonight.”

**Author's Note:**

> This story wouldn't be possible without BlackVultures. Literally. Thank you for sharing this with me and the rest of the world. Nurse Caitlin and Company are so fun to write, and there will be more. AUs and AUs of AUs. I've got plans, and they're multiplying.


End file.
